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Mike Pence Warns ‘Patience is Over’ With North Korea, Says ‘All Options’ on the Table

By Reuters On 4/17/17 at 4:19 AM

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence looks toward the north from an observation post inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea on April 17. Pence has warned that "all options are on the table" for dealing with the North's nuclear threat.Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence stared across the demilitarized border between North and South Korea on Monday, a day after North Korea's failed missile launch, reiterating that the U.S. “era of strategic patience” with Pyongyang was over.

Pence is on the first stop of a four-nation Asia tour intended to show America's allies, and remind its adversaries, that the Trump administration is not turning its back on the increasingly volatile region.

The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a heavily mined, four-kilometer-wide (2.5-mile-wide) strip of land lined with barbed wire running across the Korean peninsula, with soldiers on both sides in a continual eyeball-to-eyeball standoff.

Pence, whose father served in the 1950-53 Korean War, said the United States would stand by its “iron-clad alliance” with South Korea and was seeking peace through strength.

“All options are on the table to achieve the objectives and ensure the stability of the people of this country,” he told reporters as tinny propaganda music floated across from the North Korean side.

He said U.S. President Donald Trump has made clear he won't talk about specific military tactics.

“There was a period of strategic patience but the era of strategic patience is over,” Pence said.

“It's time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully,” he said on ABC's “This Week” program. “We are working together with our allies and partners and with the Chinese leadership to develop a range of options.

“There is an international consensus now, including the Chinese leadership, that this is a situation that just cannot continue,” McMaster said.

The Trump administration is focusing its North Korea strategy on tougher economic sanctions, possibly including an oil embargo, a global ban on its airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang, Reuters reported last week, citing U.S. officials.

While Trump has employed tough rhetoric in response to North Korea's recent missile tests, the new U.S. president's options appear limited in dealing with a challenge that has vexed his Oval Office predecessors.

Most options fall into four categories: economic sanctions, covert action, diplomatic negotiations and military force.

What appeared to be new long-range ballistic missiles were on display in the parade.

A North Korean soldier takes photographs as Vice President Mike Pence (not pictured) arrives at the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea on April 17. North Korea attempted to test a missile on Sunday, but it exploded shortly after launch. Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Tensions have risen as Trump takes a hard rhetorical line with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has rebuffed admonitions from China and proceeded with nuclear and missile programs seen by Washington as a direct threat.

Trump acknowledged on Sunday that the softer line he had taken on China's management of its currency was linked to Beijing's help on the North Korea issue.

“Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!” Trump said on Twitter. Trump has backed away from a campaign promise to label China in that way.

Pence said Trump was hopeful China “will take actions needed to bring about change in policy” in North Korea.

“But as the president has made very clear, either China will deal with this problem or the United States and our allies will,” he said.

Trump's decision to order a cruise missile strike on a Syrian airfield this month, in response to what he said was Syria's use of chemical weapons, raised questions about his plans for reclusive North Korea.

Beijing banned imports of North Korean coal on February 26, cutting off Pyongyang's most important export. China's customs department issued an order on April 7 telling traders to return North Korean coal cargoes, trading sources said.

Pyongyang has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, and regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and the United States. North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-1953 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty.

The North has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the U.S. mainland, but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering the necessary technology, including miniaturizing a nuclear warhead.

Sunday's missile launch was a calculated move, the China Daily newspaper said in an editorial.

“And making it without prompting a furious response from Washington surely qualifies as a win to some degree from Kim's perspective,” it said, referring to Kim Jong Un.

“Trump, too, can claim a win. That the nuclear test did not happen will surely be seen as the pressure working.”

"The ice doesn’t care what this administration thinks. It’s just going to keep melting," David Titley, the director of the Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk at Penn State, told Newsweek.